It may sound cheesy.... but then again, maybe not. I'll tell you what kickstarted my interest in classic wood motorboats: Initially, it was the Venice boat chase scene in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade. I was immediately taken by the beautiful wood decks on those boats (I believe they used triple-cockpit Hacker Crafts for the movie.)
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| A classic venetian limousine, docked on a quiet Sunday afternoon in 1998 on Italy's Lago d'Orta. This particular boat was likely made by Cantiere de Pellegrini Elio in Venezia. |
About 10 years later, I found myself in the lake district of northern Italy. My fascination with these boats was rekindled as I stepped aboard any of several handmade mahogany "limousines" driven by the motoscafisiti in the little town where I was staying.
In each case, it was the wooden deck that so easily captured my imagination.
And so, for as long as I've been building my little boat, I have anxiously awaited the day I'd start working on my own wood deck.
A few days ago, I drew and cut my first poster board template for the deck panel on the port side. When I flipped the template over to check the fit on the starboard side, I quickly realized that the sides were not perfectly symmetrical. So, I drew and cut a second template for the starboard side.
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| Starboard & port deck panel templates. |
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| I'll be adding a slight curvature (based on the sheer curve) on the ends of each panel. |
With the panel templates cut, the next step was to draw them onto my last remaining full sheet of Meranti. I tried to choose areas where the grain along the centerline would match relatively well. But first, I had to pull the boat out of the garage so I'd have enough room to move the 4' x 8' sheet of plywood around.
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| Perseverance sees the light of day for the first time since September. |
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| Laying the templates out on the last full sheet of Meranti. |
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| After the first few rough cuts, I placed the panels side-by-side & was pretty happy with the look of the grain. |
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| Both panels cut. |
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| The next step for the deck will be to epoxy the two panels together. |
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